Örkény István - Tengertánc

Borrowing the title of Örkény's very first volume, Tengertánc (Novellas I.) collects the harvest from the thirties to the end of the fifties, and then Niagara Nagykávéház (Novellas II.) continues the series from the pieces of the writer's silence to the last masterpieces. The latter volume will arrive on bookstore shelves in the spring of 2022, the 110th anniversary of the author's birth.

The first volume of the short stories in István Örkény's life series, which borrows its title from the introductory book of 1941, The Sea Dance, collects the harvest until the end of the fifties. Looking behind the popular short stories and one-minute short stories previously published in the series, the reader can now embark on an exciting journey of discovery, from the source of the most typical motifs and themes, from the early grotesque, from the feverish, young pace of the pre-war era to the chronicles of threat and then destruction to the dizziness of the traumas of survival. The heroes of Örkény's writings seem to be constantly playing a cat's game, with fate changing, sometimes euphoric, sometimes cruel, sometimes showing themselves in defensive roles. Just as in Ladies' Night: behind the sufferings of two women who find each other at the same temperature, sharply contrasting life facts are hidden. There is/may be some other logic behind visible life, material that can be handled differently - this is what the writer has been searching for for decades.
"Let's live adventurously, live dangerously!" - shouts an Örkény hero on some twentieth-century New Year's Eve. Word for word, this vow has been fulfilled.